I swear, I get the vibe from my cats that
- they’re my daughters
- one i get the vibe from that she’s my old lady (which literally she is but the wife connotation is highly questionable)
What is the relationship in the felid mind? I’ve never gotten the sense that I’m a “master” despite the fact they know when I get annoyed with them or what is forbidden and they mostly come to honor that (turns out nobody or anything likes getting hassled)
They’re my buddies, who I decided should live with me, so they do. And they love it. :)
Yes. Mostly mutually beneficial roommates.
I swear to god, my oldest (“my old lady”) literally pesters me at “bedtime”. A cat dictates my bedtime lol
Our old cat, Max, would sit across the room and stare at us at 9:00 every night. When we looked at him, he would turn around and put his back to us and sit there until we fed him. My husband would call out words like snacks, slacks, trax, fax, and when he would actually say Max, the cat would glance over his shoulder at him. They are the worst little creatures in the world. Why do we love them so much?!?! Some days I don’t understand how this furry little wild creature actually lives in our house with us.
Siegfrieda: self-heating pillow, food bringer, good companion.
Kika: “it’s a human so of course it’s disgusting. But it slaps my butt so good~ A shame that it’s too stupid to understand that it should be massaging me 25h/day.”
My cat saw me as the one who can open doors to unexplored lands.
I found some real life footage of OP
I think I am his older brother or something along those lines. He is very social and loved by all humans but he shows more affection towards me and his real brother. They meet less than once a year because my sister moved far away, it is always interesting to see how much they still love each other (they are now 11 and have lived longer separated).
He calls for me sometime either for help with something or because he wants to be with me and can’t find me. But he doesn’t feel needy like a little kid toward their parents as long as I haven’t been gone for long. He do need a lot of love every day.
I don’t think he sees me as a parent but we have a very close relationship and mostly understand each other and he trust me a lot.
He is very polite when he is not at home, like waiting by the the food bowls without saying anything (for example when my parents takes care of him), at home do he come and ask for food and sometimes leads me to his bowl so it really feels like a kid who is reserved around other ppl when it comes to needs but is very social, outgoing and not shy at all when it comes to other things haha
Sugar daddies …
They think of us as staff.
One of em pays us no mind and just meows if she needs food or attention. One other shows signs of understanding the roles but not much else. And then there’s the third one. Food is still the main motivation, but that little girl shows a lot of affection and love, joy, anger, appreciation to us. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I have two that are brother and sister. The sister has an oldest sibling personality - she’s the calm, responsible one that has to slap the others around when they get out of line. The brother is the younger sibling - full of energy, curious, loves to play. Our third is a year younger and she’s the baby. The others watch out for her and test her gently when she’s trying to wrestle with them.
Then, there’s uncle Todd. He lives down the street and stops by for supper and a nap every day. The older ones are very suspicious of him, but he’s cool with the baby.
feeders, pets, parents
I think they probably see us as stupid gods
My cats treat me like a big cat. That’s why they brush up against my leg, for example. Or wake me up at 6AM on Sundays.
I’m not the master. But they don’t want to disrupt the harmony, and I’m the biggest, so they usually avoid doing things that irritate me, if I’m there to see it happening.
Unlike dogs where you are part of their “pack”, for cats you are their mother - seriously, your petting them is their mother licking their fur to clean it, and their purs help you realize that they are alive and well.
The odd part is that in the wild, the kitten doesn’t stay with the mother all that long. So unlike dogs, we keep cats in a permanent juvenile state - that’s why they don’t (so much) “obey”, bc they are confident in their special status of being loved by mother.
I figure that’s the only thing stopping her from tearing me to shreds when I clean her eye boogers
